![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/6a00d83451cb0369e201539086e0eb970b-800wi.jpg\" "\\"6a00d83451cb0369e201539086e0eb970b-800wi\\"")
<\/p>\nBefore flying off to Istanbul the other week, I spent about 17 days nonstop on the internets researching places in Turkey where we could go exploring for a few days afterward. And that just left me thoroughly addled, to the point that I got on the plane with no plans beyond leaving it up to my consort to choose a destination from about 53 tantalizing possibilities. Which is how we found ourselves on a Sunday afternoon at the Izmir airport with nothing but a just-bought map, no guidebook, not even a phrase book.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was around lunchtime, so while Bob got the rental car I ran upstairs to the information booth to naively ask for a restaurant recommendation on the way to Sirince, a charming little village that seems to be generating all the buzz this summer (“like Italy with an edge”). The attendant just looked at me and said: “On Autoban. Burger King.” I gave him a good belly laugh, but he didn’t get the joke. Why would I want that there?<\/p>\n
So Bob, uncharacteristically mellow on an empty stomach, just started driving and, when he spotted a roadside cafe with picnic area, pulled over instantly without even consulting Ms. Finicky. And this plate was only part of the reward for letting serendipity be the guide.<\/p>\n
The cafe was actually also a meat market, with a case filled with various mezes and also racks loaded with lamb and chicken and even some whole fish. The woman at the cash register steered us toward a cucumber-yogurt spread, some hot roasted peppers and a roasted eggplant-tomato salad, then persuaded Bob to order more than one little lamb chop.<\/p>\n
We went outside and chose a table under the trees (where the temperature was about 30 degrees lower with the breeze) and she soon brought a tray with our mezes all gussied up with lemon slices and black olives, plus a basket of bread and a bottle of water. All three appetizers were exquisite, real home cooking done with both care and finesse. And then she delivered the chops.<\/p>\n
I can’t stomach lamb because it usually tastes too much like the deer meat of my childhood. But we almost fought over these guys; the meat was subtly flavored, tender and beautifully grilled. All the unexpected accoutrements were also cooked just right. And I think the tab was all of 26 Turkish lira, or about $15. (I can’t decipher the receipt to give the name of the place beyond Zigana Et, on the highway from Izmir to Aydin.)<\/p>\n
A couple of days later we tried another roadside cafe, more of a truck stop, and if the frozen beef kebabs were a little chewy and the cheese plate pretty processed, the whole experience was so much more satisfying than any Burger King. I’m usually a sucker for guidebooks, but there’s something to be said for taking a holiday from them, at least in a country where you can still pull off the highway and eat real food off an actual plate.<\/p>\n
Photo by Regina Schrambling<\/p>\n
via The Epi-Log on Epicurious.com: Road Food, Turkish Style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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